THE SUPRARENAL SYSTEM 157 



Mariani affirms that the increase in blood-pressure, which is 

 induced by the exhibition of suprarenal extract, is immediately 

 abolished by the blood of epinephrectomized animals. According 

 to Strehl and Weiss, there are certain data which point to the 

 ^conclusion that the toxic action of the blood of suprarenalless 

 animals may be counteracted by means of suprarenal extract. 

 These findings, together with those of Soddu concerning the 

 favourable effects of blood-letting and saline infusion upon supra- 

 renalless animals, would seem to show that the peculiar prostra- 

 tion of such animals and their eventual death is due to an 

 accumulation, more particularly in the muscular structure, of the 

 harmful products of metabolism. These results supply the foun- 

 dation for the theory that it is the function of the suprarenals to 

 render innocuous certain toxic products of metabolism, the 

 chemical nature of which is as yet unknown. According to 

 Charrin and Langlois, the suprarenals exercise this neutralizing 

 activity upon other toxins also, such as nicotine and the bacteria 

 toxins. This is a point, however, which we shall have occasion 

 to discuss more fully later. 



To return to the signs of suprarenal suppression ; there still 

 remain the conditions governing the morphological elements of 

 the blood, and -the question as to the deposition of pigment after 

 suprarenal extirpation. 



Brown-Sequard's original view was that death followed 

 epinephrectomy as the result of an accumulation of pigment in the 

 blood, whereby emboli and haemorrhages were produced in the 

 brain. This view did not find favour with later authors. Boinet 

 alone held the opinion that, after removal of the suprarenals, a 

 black pigment accumulated in many organs and tissues, and for 

 this reason he employed the term "experimental" Addison's 

 disease. Pigmentation of the skin and mucous membranes of 

 rabbits was observed by Nothnagel in three cases, by Tizzoni in 

 thirteen (twelve cases of single and one of double suprarenal 

 extirpation). F. and S. Marino-Zucco found that fourteen to 

 twenty-four days after the removal of one suprarenal from rabbits, 

 slate-grey patches the size of a linseed appeared upon places 

 where the skin had been shaved. These patches at first increased in 

 size, but at the end of two months had entirely disappeared. Similar 

 patches were seen in rabbits which were not albinos after inocu- 

 lation of the suprarenals with Pfeiffer's pseudotubercle bacilli and 

 Eppinger's cladothrix, as well as after the subcutaneous injection 

 of neurin. But it has been pointed out by many that these 

 pigmented patches are quite accidental, and are frequently 

 observed in rabbits which are not albinos. Of the later investi- 

 gators, no one has been able to record anomalies of pigmentation 

 in animals after removal of one or both suprarenals. 



The blood of epinephrectomized animals presents no analogy 

 with the anomalous conditions seen in Addison's disease in man. 



